内容摘要：“There is an opportunity, a hell of a big opportunity to wash money here,” he told our reporters. “I can give my partner gold in Dubai and he can just pay you anywhere in the world.”

“There is an opportunity, a hell of a big opportunity to wash money here,” he told our reporters. “I can give my partner gold in Dubai and he can just pay you anywhere in the world.”

These smuggling gangs have official licenses from Zimbabwe’s central bank that allow them to sell the country’s gold in Dubai, documents accessed by Al Jazeera show. They are expected to return the proceeds from those sales back to the central bank.Instead, Pattni, Macmillan and Matthias have a well-oiled money laundering mechanism in place. They told Al Jazeera’s undercover reporters to set up shell companies in Dubai that would serve as a front for gold trade. The legitimate money earned from the sale of Zimbabwean gold in the emirate would be transferred to the bank accounts of these shell firms. And the smugglers would instead carry the dirty cash back with them to Harare, where they would deposit it with the central bank.

“So, it’s very clean that way,” said Mathias, Macmillan’s partner.When asked about the findings of Al Jazeera’s investigations, Pattni said no allegation of criminal wrongdoing had been upheld against him in Kenya. He denied involvement in any kind of money laundering, as well as employing anyone to smuggle cash or offering to deal with funds he knew originated from illegal sources. He said that when he met with our undercover team, he thought he was meeting with an investor who wanted to sell a stake in hotel businesses and “to divest of a portfolio in China into gold buying and mining in Zimbabwe”.Alistair Mathias denied that he designed mechanisms to launder money and said that he had never laundered money or traded illegal gold. He told us he had never had any working relationship with Ewan Macmillan.

Rudland told Al Jazeera that all allegations against him were false and formed part of a smear campaign by an unidentified third party. He described himself as “a strong businessman … competing against the greedy and the envious”. He denied any involvement in the sale of illicit cigarettes, in gold or other smuggling and in sanctions busting.Gold Leaf Tobacco, Rudland’s company, said that it emphatically denied any involvement, past or present, in money laundering, the trade in illegal gold or related matters.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe told Al Jazeera that it takes the issues of money laundering and illicit trade very seriously and will not participate, directly or indirectly, in such activities.

Mnangagwa, Macmillan, Angel, Doolan, Rushwaya and other parties featured in this article did not respond to Al Jazeera’s inquiries.In his speech, delivered in Italian, Pope Leo made repeated references to Francis and the mourning over his death, saying the late pontiff left a “precious legacy” and signalling that he would continue with his vision.

Later on Saturday, Pope Leo made a surprise visit to a sanctuary south of Rome that is dedicated to the Madonna and of significance to his Augustinian order.People gathered in the town of Genazzano, in the square outside the main church housing the Madre del Buon Consiglio sanctuary, waiting for Leo to emerge. The pontiff shook hands and offered blessings to a few people in the crowd before entering the shrine.

Leo previously visited the sanctuary, which is managed by Augustinian friars, last year, when he was a cardinal. It has been a place of pilgrimage since the 15th century.Francis was pope for 12 years and often garnered criticism from conservative cardinals, who said he was watering down the Church’s doctrine on issues such as the inclusion of LGBTQ Catholics and women’s leadership.